November 17 – Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe (pictured) has claimed that it was his idea for England 2018 to streamline its Board so that it could focus on the campaign to bring the World Cup back to the country for the first time since 1966.

November 17 – England have been warned by Tony Woodcock (pictured), one of its high-profile ambassadors, that they are behind European rivals Russia and Spain and Portugal’s joint bid in the race to host the 2018 World Cup.

November 16 – Simon Greenberg (pictured), the communications and public affairs director at Chelsea, has been appointed as chief of staff for England’s 2018 World Cup bid with special responsibilities with strategic communications.

November 16 – The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) has been disbanded by the country’s Olympic Committee because of alleged financial and administrative irregularities and the repeated delaying of internal elections.

November 16 – England 2018 will promote their bid to host the World Cup at the Soccerex Global Convention in South Africa later this month to bring the total of rival bidders taking a presence in Johannesburg to six, over half of those competing to stage the event.

November 14 – England lost 1-0 to Brazil in the Khalifa Stadium here tonight but the real winner was Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup as fans from both sets of countries praised the organisation and atmosphere of the occasion.

November 14 – FIFA vice-president Jack Warner (pictured), the man who undermined England’s 2018 World Cup bid, has launched another verbal broadside, this time taking Premier League clubs to task for refusing to release players for international duty and denouncing the Football Association for rejecting a request to play a friendly against his country.

November 13 – David Beckham (pictured) has been asked to rescue England’s faltering 2018 World Cup by travelling to Cape Town next month to try to influence the 24 men who will decide which country hosts the event.

November 13 – Call it papering over the cracks, wielding the axe. Call it what you will. The one question that remains as baffling now as it did before, following the restructuring of England’s 2018 World Cup bid board, is this. Why on earth wasn’t Geoff Thompson (pictured) brought on board from the start?